MOELEY] INTEODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 209 



Since all the Calendar Rounds which this number contains, 5 (see 

 Table XVI) may be deducted from it without affecting its value, we 

 can further reduce it to 13,785 (108,685-94,900), and this will be the 

 number used in the following calculations. 



It was stated (on p. 135) in describing the direction of the count 

 that numbers are usually counted forward from the dates next pre- 

 ceding them in a text, although this is not invariably true. Applying 

 this rule to the present case, it is probable that the Secondary-series 

 number 15.1.16.5, wliich we have reduced to 13,785 units of the first 

 order, is counted forward from the date 2 Kan 2 Yax, the one next 

 preceding it in our text, a date, moreover, the Initial-series value of 

 which is known. 



Remembering that this date 2 Kan 2 Yax is our new starting point, 

 and that the count is forward, by applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. 139, 

 140, and 141, respectively), to 13,785, the new terminal date reached 

 will be 7 Muluc 17 Tzec; and this date is recorded in C5-D5. Compare 

 C5 with the sign for the day Muluc in figure 16, m, n, and D5 with 

 the sign for the month Tzec in figure 19, g, h. Furthermore, by add- 

 ing the Secondary-series number 15.1.16.5 to 9.0.19.2.4 (the Initial- 

 series nmnber which fixes the position of the date 2 Kan 2 Yax in the 

 Long Count), the Initial-series value of the terminal date of the Sec- 

 ondary Series (calculated and identified above as 7 Muluc 17 Tzec) 

 can also be determined as follows: 



9.0.19.2.4 2 Kan 2 Yax Initial Series 



15. 1.1G.5 Secondary-series number 



9.16.1.0.9 7 Muluc 17 Tzec Initial Series of the Secondary- 

 series terminal date 7 Muluc 

 17 Tzec 



The student may verify the above calculations by treating 9.16.1.0.9 

 as a new Initial-series number, and coimting it forward from 4 Ahau 

 8 Cumhu, the starting pomt of Maya chronology. The terminal date 

 reached \\dll be found to be the same date as the one recorded in 

 C5-D5, namely, 7 Muluc 17 Tzec. 



What is the meaning then of this text, which records two dates 

 nearly 300 years apart ?^ It must be admitted at the outset that the 

 nature of the events which occurred on these two dates, a matter 

 probably set forth in the glyphs of imknown meaning in the text, is 

 totally miknown. It is possible to gather from other sources, how- 

 ever, some little data concerning their significance. In the first place, 

 9.16.1.0.9 7 Muluc 17 Tzec is almost surely the ''contemporaneous 

 date" of tills lintel, the date indicating the time at or near which it 

 was formally decUcated or put into use. Tliis point is established 

 almost to a certamty by the fact that all the other dates known at 

 Yaxchilan are very much nearer to 9.16.1.0.9 7 Muluc 17 Tzec in point 



1 The number 15.1.16.5 is equal to 108,685 days, or 297i years. 

 43508°— Bull. 57—15 14 



